I will be referencing several of our projects in IGCC and post combustion CCS, specifically the ZeroGen project. I will also discuss the status of several Key Carbon Sequestration projects that are demonstrating long term sustainability.

The paper describes two environmental conditions that required some thought and innovation to overcome. Cold and Noise are becoming an increasingly important limitation to the application of mining equipment and the paper describes how one manufacturer tackled both issues by the thoughtful use of known technology.

Climate change represents one of the biggest areas of strategic uncertainty that companies currently face. However, it is an issue that requires a strategic response. Integrating the use of scenarios into an organization's strategic planning process provides an effective means to plan in the face of significant uncertainty. This presentation will highlight how scenarios are used to respond to the risks and opportunities presented by climate change and provide examples from cases studies.

The current demand for potash has pushed world prices to near recordlevels and allowed Saskatchewan producers to operate at maximumcapacity. Several years of strong demand has resulted in a permittingrush not seen since the 1960's. Even though Saskatchewan has a hugepotash resource, mining and processing constraints will limit the areasof economic development.

An examination of some of the reclamation solutions that have been proposed to mitigate environmental impacts, often through replacement with very different ecosystems and or land uses and values. In addition, this presentation reviews the important aspect of a mining proponent suggesting a mitigation that is not presently possible to create/construct, and the risk the regulators (and others) are being asked to accept.

A truck/shovel users group has been established wherein mining companies compare operating and maintenance performance towards addressing common issues and sharing best practices. The group provides a networking forum to learn about innovative approaches and improvement opportunities through dialogue and presentation, and site tours hosted by member companies through their respective mining sites.

Inversion of magnetotelluric data in three dimensional environments has been mainly limited to two dimensional inversion of the TM mode impedance and/or bandwidth limited TE phase and tipper. While still requiring memory intensive workstations, full three dimensional inversion of magnetotelluric data is becoming more routine and extracts the maximum amount of information from the data in the most appropriate fashion. Both 2D and 3D inversions of a small transient magnetotelluric dataset will...

This presentation will describe the energy management journey that De Beers Canada embarked on during the construction of a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, including a discussion of the drivers for getting started early with energy conservation, challenges encountered during project development, and energy audit findings together with lessons learned for the next mine construction project. The presentation will also address how De Beers plans to build on initial successes for...

There are a number of emerging opportunities to apply robotics in oil sands operations to address chronic issues in environments that can be hazardous to workers. This paper will describe technology options and potential benefits for several application areas, including bitumen production, maintenance, and reclamation. Issues of risk mitigation and operability and reliability will be discussed.

This presentation will commence with an outline of current mining labour market conditions. It will analyze some of the perennial drivers of attraction across industry then move to a discussion of the work that Elk Valley Coal Partnership is doing both with students and in attracting them upon graduation. Lastly, some of the challenges and responsibilities facing students as they enter the industry will be presented.

The paper introduces the concept of "Process Safety Management" which is practiced in the chemical industry as a means to understanding risk and managing it once one accepts it.This concept may be a means to make a step change in the mining industry with respect to management of risks associated with worker health and safety, public health and safety, environmental impact, protection of company assets and business. The paper will present a management system adaptable to any type of mining...

This presentation will discuss several of the systems and processes that that been developed over the past several years and are now being utilized on by major mining companies on draglines in North America, Australia and South Africa. These technologies include GPS navigation systems; structural integrity monitoring systems; structural analysis studies to increase the dragline RSLs; and inspection and response strategies. The results are significant increases in dragline production and/or...

“Low hanging fruit” can be defined as achieving initial energy savings without major capital investment. After completing internal assessments on its energy system, Syncrude was able to identify a number of key process variables that have a strong correlation with energy use. Through target setting and development of simple systems for monthly monitoring and reporting, Syncrude achieved reductions in energy use on both fired equipment and...

This talk reports progress on the development of a generic data mining methodology to build prognostic models for complex equipment. The methodology, which relies on readily available operational and maintenance data, addresses various data mining tasks such as automatic labeling, feature extraction, model building, model fusion, and evaluation. Results from application in the aerospace and railroad industries will be presented.

The new International Finance Corporaiton (IFC), Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines for Mining (July 2007)and the IFC Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability are having a profound impact on the approach for design, operation and closure of mines. Adherence to these guidelines and standards, through The Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFI), has become a requirement for financing of the majority of finanancial institutions. The guidelines and...

Imperial Oil Resources is progressing development of the Kearl Oil Sands Project to produce surface mineable bitumen from leases in the Athabasca region north of Fort McMurray. The project, which received full regulatory approval in mid-2007, will incorporate the most recent advancements in oil sands mining and extraction, and utilize a novel paraffinic froth treatment process to supply high-quality bitumen directly to the North American market. The presentation will provide an overview of...

We have undertaken to perform a number of large scale field tests to provide a better geomechanical understanding of cemented paste backfill systems, in response to the current lack of in-situ field data in this area. The first field test was performed in a 150 m alimak stope. Instrument clusters inside the stope measured total and pore pressures, suction and conductivity, and demonstrated lower than expected total pressures, and significant arching within an adjacent drift. Deformation of...

Efficient, high volume, mine load out operations have evolved in recent years to include more sophisticated control systems that integrate with mission critical equipment such as weighing systems. Traditional weighing systems often involve static weighment of individual railcars and either manual or serial transmission of scale data to a database application. In recent years integration of railcar or truck weight data into a loadout operation via direct PLC or Ethernet communication between...

The Canadian mineral exploration, mining and related technology, service and supplier industries, working with academia, research organizations and governments, have created a new research and innovation network, the Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC). CMIC is a consortium of industry, academic and government leaders whose purpose is to strengthen the competitiveness of a responsible Canadian mining industry by rebuilding mining research excellence across Canada. The paper will...

Proceedings:

CIM Edmonton 2008

Author(s):

Stephen Lucas, Ferri Hassani, Gordon Peeling, Jon Baird

Keywords:

Human Resources, Innovation, Mining industry, Research funding, Research and Development

The mining industry faces many challenges in the environmental and social-license areas, among others. In addressing these challenges, it is important that the industry communicate a positive and accurate message to the public - at the local community level and in a broader national or international context. The industry produces products that are essential to modern life. The industry employs thousands of people, buys from hundreds of suppliers, invests hundreds of millions in exploration...

A simple method is presented for the synthesis of straight Y-shaped SiO2 nanorods with a diameter of about 200nm with smooth surface. These SiO2 nanorods were synthesized by thermal evaporation method at 1300?. The synthesized samples were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results suggested that the growth of such SiO2 nanorods may be a result of the fluctuation of external conditions causing a change in the...

Teck Cominco and UBC's Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering have been working closely together to improve both the quality of students' education and the caliber of recruited students and graduate engineers.By gathering information about what types of opportunities graduates are pursuing, and surveying them directly about what the graduates value, the industry benefits from better recruitment and retainment. Students also benefit by hearing directly what skills and traits the...

Human excellence in all areas of endeavour is acknowledged and recognized. Establishing role models and spreading the word on best practices helps broader audiences. For on-the-job safety, recognition programs are a component of successful programs. In Canada’s mining industry since 1941, the John T. Ryan Safety Trophies initiative has contributed to the sector’s improving record in this area. The much sought after and rich in history John T. Ryan trophies are recognized symbols of safety...

Energy SavingsOver the years, Inco now Vale Inco, has earned a very good reputation in implementing energy efficiency programs to reduce cost and consumption. An ongoing effort on energy continues to reduce costs, generate saving and pay dividends. There are strong justifications in applying learned energy efficiency techniques from past knowledge and experience to new growth projects or installations that may result in even greater future energy cost and consumption reductions. Vale Inco...

The expanding use of computing and network technology systems in the mining industry on large mining equipment and for mine control systems has been beneficial for productivity improvements. The need to be able to quickly utilize and apply computing and networking technology in the mine has been inhibited by several issues. In 2005 a movement began within the mining industry to address and improve the situation. The movement started with an informal group of mining companies and evolved...

Discovered in 1978, Areva Resources Canada Inc’s. rich Midwest uranium orebody precluded exploitation for 30 years due to the project’s economic, technical, social and environmental challenges. After completing mine development studies for three different mining methods under the direction of four different operating companies and the submission of no less than five Environmental Impact Statements, Areva plans to bring the Midwest project into production as an open pit development in 2010. ...

Mining organizations throughout the world have raised awareness and action aroundenergy management initiatives. This has been achieved through various techniques fromextensive application of automation technologies to discussion forums with employees.The critical aspect of any initiative has been its level of sustainability in the long run.This paper will present methods used within mining operations to leverage existingtechnologies for decision support and knowledge transfer relating...

The large tire users group has been in operation for some time, and is currently focused on sharing best operating/maintenance practices, monitoring techniques and repair options to maximize equipment tire life across the mining industry. Members return with valued information that gets the most from equipment tires to support continued mine operations.

Presentation will focus on brief history of the LTUG, past successes (including minesite testimonials) and an overview of the current focus...

A number of mining technologies have been widely introduced over the last few decades or are under development. These include heap leaching of low grade copper and gold ores, remote mining, driverless (autonomous) trucks, etc. Adoption of these technologies is typically based on technical and economic feasibilities and not a broader sustainability evaluation. This presentation will demonstrate how a broader sustainability assessment may impact implementation decisions and deployment of the...

In order to spur innovation, sometimes a grand vision is required to motivate and align the forces and resources. "Mining on the Moon" presents mind boggling opportunities for technological innovation - from autonomous vehicles to intelligent control systems to advanced communications - and the promise to apply those innovations to create real value for Canadian mining companies. But does Canada have the courage to lead the challenge? The potential of intelligent systems will be used to as a...

The control system at Highland Valley Copper is being upgraded to extend the lifecycle of system to the foreseeable future of the mine. 2 of the 5 lines have been converted to the Schneider Control System so far, with the remaining three areas schedule for conversion in the next year. The conversion of the two areas was accomplished during normally scheduled maintenance periods resulting in the mine maintaining full planned production due to the essentially transparent nature of the...

In July 2007 the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group released for public comment it’s updated Draft of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines for Mining . The new Mining EHS Guidelines are the result of a two and a half year review process to update guidelines for all sectors of IFC activity. These mining guidelines serve to condense the previous open pit, underground and Draft Precious Minerals Mining guidelines into a single document. They cover Industry-S...

Swing and Hoist gearboxes are one of the most critical mechanical systems on a dragline. Pall Corporation over the past 5 years have developed filtration skids specifically for dragline swing and hoist gearboxes. First designed in Australia, the skids are designed to be instaled perminantly to the gearbox lube systems to continually recirculate the high viscosity oil to maintain very low ISO Cleanliness Levels. The results have proven to extend gearbox reliability and maintenance schdules and...

This paper presents an evaluation of underground-to-surface haulage options for a relatively large deposit. Specifically, it presents a recommended haulage option to provide the greatest value to the Project. Options considered included conventional truck, trolley-truck, conveying and shaft hoisting. The work was done to the level of a scoping study as input to an internal pre-feasibility study.

The base case for the option analysis in the study was a Long Hole Open Stoping option (LHOS)...

The paper is a summary of ongoing research at the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining and Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine on paste sill stability. This paper focuses on the performance on an instrument fill fence that was tested above the design load of the fence to understand the stress-strain response of the fence. The fill fence was a standard fill fence that is comprised of 10cm of shotcrete applied to a rebar skeleton spaced nominally 60cm apart. The fence was instrumented with rebar and...